Base (T-Spin)

The portion of a T-Spin setup, not directly under an overhang, where the T rests upon.

Block

A solid element occupying one cell of the playfield. Also used as a synonym for "cell" to represent a length or width (e.g. a 2-block-tall hole). Multiple blocks make a piece such as a tetromino. In some publications, a "block" may refer to a whole piece, but Tetriswiki uses "piece" or "tetromino" for clarity.

Bounding box

A conceptual mechanism for explaining rotation systems that allows depicting how orientations are positioned relative to one another.

Bravo

When the player clears the whole playfield without leaving any blocks behind. Also known as a All Clear or Perfect Clear.

Broken line

Any line sent to opponents with only one gap in the row. In the typical multiplayer variant, broken lines are clearable and have at least one gap in a random location.

Buffer Zone

An invisible area above the matrix used to detect lock out, block out, and top out game over conditions. The dimensions of the buffer zone are the same as those of the matrix.

C

Ceiling

The horizontal line separating the in-bounds rows of the playfield from the out-of-bounds rows. Most games place the ceiling at the top of row 20. In most games, the ceiling coincides with the top of the visible portion of the playfield. Tetriminos fall from the middle of the matrix just above this line. Also called skyline.

G

A unit of speed of one cell per frame. Refers most often to gravity; can also refer to DAS or soft drop speed. For example, when gravity is 20G, each piece falls so quickly that it instantly spawns on top of the playfield.

H

Hang

Hard drop

Placing the falling piece in storage and moving the piece that was in storage (or next in line if no piece was in storage) to the top of the playfield.

Hold Queue

The storage place where players can Hold any falling Tetrimino for use later. When called for, the held Tetrimino swaps places with the currently falling Tetrimino, and begins falling again at the generation point.

Infinite Placement

J

J

A misdrop due to an inadvertent zangi-move. It happens in games with firm drop when the player drops a piece but does not wait long enough for the piece to lock before trying to charge DAS or input IRS for the next piece. The New Tetris was especially susceptible due to its lack of manual locking.

Line clear delay

Lock

After a piece has landed on the floor of the playfield or on other blocks, it becomes part of the playfield and is no longer subject to the player's control. Or to cancel lock delay, causing a piece to lock immediately.

Notch (T-Spin)

Natural donation

O

O

Open column

The direction that a piece faces. The number of orientations in Tetris pieces may not always be equal to the number of geometric orientations a shape can take. Shapes like Z, S, and I which only has two orientations, or O, which has only one, can be treated as having four internal representations in some games, most commonly those that implement the Super Rotation System.

Overhang

A block or column of blocks extending from a wall of blocks over an empty cell or column. Overhangs are commonly used as a method of reordering piece placements when a player recieves undesirable tetromino sequences. In games where T-Spins are rewarded, overhangs may be used to set up a T-Spin.

Receiving Queue

A vertical meter that accrues opponents' line attacks between lock downs. When a lock down occurs, any lines accrued in the meter are added to the bottom of that player's matrix before generation of the next tetrimino.

Rectum

This wiki's name for the open column to place a vertical I tetromino for a Tetris. It consists of at least four adjacent rows that are filled with blocks except for a single hole in the same column. The term comes from the Latin for "straight"; other terms are gap and channel. Coined by a user here.

Step reset

T

T

Target Mark

A movable marker that designates the recipient of a line attack. This marker displays near the middle of the opponent's matrix but is only visible to the player that controls it.

TAS

Tool-assisted speedrun. A performance produced by means unavailable to regular players, such as slow motion, frame-by-frame advance of the gameplay, or re-recording of previous portions of a performance.

Tetris Engine

A piece consisting of four square blocks joined at the sides. Distinctive geometric Tetris shapes formed by four minoes connected along their sides. A total of seven possible tetrominoes can be made using four minoes, each represented by a unique color.

Z: red

L: orange

O: yellow

S: green

I: light blue

J: dark blue

T: purple

Timer

A HUD element that displays elapsed playtime (or remaining playtime if in Ultra mode) of the current game. Many older Tetris games do not display timer at all.

U

A game mode where the player tries to earn as many points as possible in the limited time, usually 2 or 3 minutes.

Upstack

The act of placing tetrominoes inside the playfield to increase the height of the stack.

V

Variable Goal System

A goal system which the level increases for every (5*Level) lines. Bonus lines are awarded for simultaneous line clears, T-Spins, Back-to-Backs and Combos. Used in Tetris Worlds, Marathon mode of Tetris Zone and Tetris Friends, and most Tetris games published by Electronic Arts.

Visual Rotation Point

TTC's term for the wall kick positions of SRS. Using the Super Rotation System, this is the point anywhere near or within the Tetrimino around which the Tetris Engine attempts to rotate the Tetrimino. If unsuccessful, it will attempt to use the next Visual Rotation Point of the Tetrimino until it is successful.